USIS -- the company that did Snowden's background check -- has a major presence in Western Pennsylvania. The company is now under fire from members of Congress and government investigators.

USIS does background checks on 2 million government employees per year. One of them was Snowden, who is now on the run after leaking a trove of secret government data.

A former USIS employee told WTAE he is not surprised the company is in trouble.

Downtown Grove City is thriving, and locals say much of the credit goes to USIS. The company employs 700 people at two locations in Grove City and another 800 people at nearby Iron Mountain.

Nonni's Corner Trattoria gets plenty of business from USIS employees and contractors. Lately, they've been talking about the Snowden case and the potential impact on their future.

"When you're talking about your own livelihood and how many people work there, it's natural that it's on people's minds, and it's something that they talk about," said owner Dave Valenza.

Government investigators are not saying exactly what USIS may have missed when it was background checking Snowden.

Last month, the Washington Post reported the inspector general at the federal Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, wants to pull the plug on its $200 million contract with USIS unless the company can show it's performing responsibly.

How big an impact would that have in Grove City? "It certainly is a valid concern with 700 individuals employed here," Mayor Randy Riddle said.

The problems at USIS apparently did not begin with Snowden. The inspector general for the federal government's personnel office recently told Congress he's been investigating the company for the past year and a half.

Court records show that in the past five years, eight USIS employees have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to falsifying background checks.

"Do you believe you're catching most of the fraud, Mr. McFarland, or do you believe there's more?" asked Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo."I believe there may be considerably more," said Inspector General Patrick McFarland.

A former USIS employee said he never saw fraud, but he said there were other problems at the company. He did not want to be identified because he does not want to jeopardize his chances of working with another security company.

What was his reaction when he first heard about the Snowden case? "I felt that OPM had thrown USIS under the bus," the former employee said. "However, with everything that goes on in the process and how many hands handle it, it could have been that something was missed."

He said he was required to review up to 200 cases per day. "A lot of times it was push, push, push to get everything out with this one-day turnaround,” the former employee said. “I've had cases that are 160 pages, so there's so much information, so many details that it's not surprising something could fall through the cracks, even with a team of people working on it."

A spokesman for USIS declined any comment on the investigation or anything else related to the company.

In June, USIS issued a statement saying it received a subpoena in January 2012 from the inspector general and it "complied with that subpoena and has cooperated fully with the government's civil investigative efforts." USIS said that investigation is unrelated to Snowden.

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., whose district includes the USIS facilities in Western Pennsylvania, said it's a good company, and the federal government should not rush to yank its contract because of Snowden.

"People try to make political gain out of something very serious," Kelly said. "I would say, 'You know what? Let's keep your powder dry, let's see what happened.' I think we're kind of jumping the gun on it."

It is unclear when the inspector general will finish his investigation into USIS. A bipartisan group of senators has filed a bill calling for more scrutiny of USIS and other companies that do background checks.

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